The Sand Seeps Through My Fingers
by ErPo
Summary: [Oneshot] While walking through the forest, Gaara comes across an unlikely individual...


Okay, just to let you all know, this is NOT a Gaara and Hinata pairing, okay? I repeat, NOT a Gaara and Hinata pairing!

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Little grains of sand slid through his fingers, flowing like water until all that remained was the bare skin of his palm. He narrowed his eyes and with his other hand made a motion that caused the sand to return back to his outstretched hand. "I have control of it…" he muttered.

Yet again, the sand seeped through the cracks in his clenched fist "Yet, it slips right through my fingers," he hissed bitterly.

"HEY! Gaara!" came a yell from across the clearing.

Gaara lifted his gaze from his empty hand to turn narrowed green eyes upon his brother, Kankuro.

"What?" he uttered coldly.

Kankuro flinched slightly at the tone. "Eh… we have a mission to go on tomorrow, I'm supposed to fill you in on the details," he said.

"Not now… I'm going out…" Gaara mumbled.

"Damn it Gaara! It'll only take a minu---" Kankuro cut himself off to see Gaara was leaving.

He shook his head slightly and stalked off.

The wind caressed his cheek and danced with his spiky red hair. He liked being alone and away from pests like, well, essentially all people. He wasn't exactly sociable, as if that mattered. "I live to kill," he smirked.

Suddenly he heard a humming. It was soft and gentle, he followed the sound. He reached a waterfall, to find a rather unlikely individual. That Hyuga girl he had seen in Konoha before. She was in her underwear, underneath the waterfall and her expression was that of somebody who was dreaming. "Naruto-kun," she breathed with a smile, a slight blush adorning her cheeks.

He would have raised an eyebrow, had he possessed one. 'Uzumaki Naruto?' he thought in question.

He wasn't particularly hidden at the moment, so he wondered why the Hyuga girl hadn't noticed him yet. In fact, with the giant gourd on his back, he was hardly incognito, so she must be deep in thought. He was patient though, he stood there with his arms crossed and watched her expression for any sign of realization.

A sudden wind swept the area and she shivered before turning slightly. She was caught completely off guard to find Gaara standing there with an emotionless expression. "Oh!" she uttered before turning red and passing out.

Once again, his lack of eyebrows prevented him from cocking a brow at the display. He wasn't exactly a chivalrous being, so he went and leaned against a tree and waited.

"Hn…" Hinata mumbled as she opened her eyes and squinted as water droplets got in them.

She scrambled out from under the water fall and behind some rocks. She got dressed quickly and peeked out from behind the rocks to see Gaara leaning against a tree and trying to hold sand in his hand.

'W… why would he be h… here!?' she thought, panicked.

She gasped as he turned his head to look at her. She didn't know what she was doing, but she feebly walked over to him. Her stance was that of a dog that had been kicked to many times, as he observed, and she was pressing her fingers together nervously.

"Um… w… what… are---" she was cut off when Gaara grabbed her wrist firmly, stopping her finger pressing.

She looked down and frowned, blushing in embarrassment. Nobody had really bothered much with her nervous habits. He cast black-lined eyes back at her face and his grip on her wrist stopped the shaking of her hand. "Why… do you do that?" he muttered, slightly agitated.

"Um… I… I j… just---" she was cut off once again.

"You can't speak properly?" he sneered.

She was sweating a bit. She thought she was doing pretty well to keep herself from fainting at the current situation, apparently not.

She cast her eyes down to her feet. "You give in so easily," he mumbled, releasing her wrist and going back to his previous task of attempting to hold the sand in his fist.

Moments of silence passed as she observed his actions, puzzled. "W… why are you doing that?" she asked softly, trying not to stutter too much.

Once again he wished for eyebrows. "I can't keep it from seeping through my fingers…" he replied, still focused on his attempts.

"You like Uzumaki," he stated out of the blue.

"E… eh? I…" she was taken by surprise.

How was it possible for people in the village of sand to know about her 'secret' crush as well!? "You said his name," he added.

She flinched. Had she said it so obviously? Was it dripping with such tenderness? She wasn't good at being discreet either, apparently!

"I… It's not as if… Naruto-kun w… would return the feelings," she said, not knowing why.

Gaara smirked. He didn't know the boy very well at all and he hadn't seen him many times, but he had already concluded that he was dense.

"You being so weak… and him being so thick… he may never find out the feelings exist," he scoffed.

"W… weak?" she uttered.

"Shy," he corrected, not knowing why.

"Oh…"

He looked concentrated on something for a moment before his eyes narrowed. "What… is it like to love?" he asked, catching her off-guard.

She resisted the urge to press her fingers together. "Well… um… I… it makes me feel… worth something… when he notices me. I… I feel so… h… happy like I'm going to… overflow with… j… joy…" she managed, finding it odd to be confiding her emotions in Gaara of all people.

He almost smiled. "It… sounds nice…" he muttered as he gazed at the sand trickling through his fingers.

"G… Gaara-kun?" she asked, not understanding why she felt the need to address him in such a friendly manner.

"Hm?" came the response.

He wondered why she had addressed him so. She took his hand and opened it, letting all the sand fall to the ground. "You don't have to control everything," she replied, successfully fighting the impulse to stutter.

He watched the last grains of sand trickle from his open hand and as they hit the ground, something washed over him. He felt calm.

"Hinata…"

"… yes?"

"You don't have to let the sand seep through **_your _**fingers…"


End file.
